recipes, travel and food journal

Eggplants, Sunshine, Brits and France Recipe

by ambrosiana on August 24, 2011

While I was in the kitchen cooking an eggplant pasta, I was listening to Sunshine , a beautiful song by the famous British band Keane. I find this song so atmospheric – it has a very ethereal sound. The song is about finding a home in someone, out of all the people in the world…so beautiful.

Tim Rice Oxley, the band’s songwriter who brilliantly penned this song, said: “Sunshine was written in France, it’s probably got a bit of the French atmosphere in it. … We wrote it out in a garden in France, and then rushed in and recorded it.” – (source Keaneshaped.co.uk )

As I opened my mail today, I found a new post – Which came first “The egg plant or the egg?” – from the blog Camerahols / Food, Photography & France , written by the famous British photographer, Roger Stowell (who is also a superb writer with a great sense of humor). I was pleasantly surprised to find out that in that post, Roger Stowell mentioned that I was off to Vendée, France – where he lives – to take his food photography course – Camerahols.

So before going to France, I wanted to make a recipe inspired by this new and exciting experience.

Here it is :

Ingredients

1 cup of sunshine

2 baked eggplants

a dash of Brit pop

100 grams of French atmosphere

1 cup of Brit photography

2 tablespoons of grated French “cheese”.

Method

Using an immersion blender combine baked eggplants and sunshine. Add the Brit pop and combine well. Gently fold in the French atmosphere. Add cheese!!!….. Ciak!!

Preheat the oven to 200°C (about 400°F). Cut eggplants in two halves lengthwise and bake them for about 30 minutes or until tender. Let it cool. Cut eggplants into cubs. Combine eggplants, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and extra virgin olive oil. Using a whizzer, mix these ingredients well. Add water to get the desired consistency. The sauce does not need to be thick; it should be a bit runny.

Cook pasta under package instructions. For this recipe I used pappardelle, which is a type of pasta larger and broader than fettuccine.

When pasta is cooked, combine with eggplant sauce. Add cherry tomatoes and fresh parsley. Garnish with four or five eggplant rounds. Sprinkle with extra grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

I am listening to Sunshine right now, beautiful. I love cooking, cleaning and working in the garden while listening to music. Back to your food, this looks delicious and the picture is incredible. I am just learning to use the eggplants (do not know why, they are delicious) and needed a few recipes. I do hope you enjoy your time and learn a trick or two for me. If I get to return to France I know I will want to take at least one day of his instructions, knowing full well I could use an endless amount of instructions. Thank you for stopping by and adding me, I look forward to learning and enjoying my time at your place. I cannot wait to hear about your trip, I think I may be as excited as you….RaeDi

I took a long tour of his photography site and the pictures are incredible, now if I could get my camera to do the same!

You are very sweet!! Eggplants are so versatile since you can cook them in so many different ways!!! You can even substitute meat with eggplants in a burger. Just cut a thick slice and grill it. I am glad you listened to Sunshine!!! Thanks for your lovely comments!

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About

I am a food lover blogging from the eternal city of Rome. Ambrosia in Roman and Greek Mythology was the food of the gods. Therefore, this is a site about tales of real, fresh, and delicious food available to all of us human beings. In this blog, my aim is also to share pictures while travelling in Italy and abroad.